Homeowners are suckers for vacuums. Up until Dyson popularised the cordless vacuum, most homes had one massive vacuum cleaner stored in their closet or storeroom, and usually taken out for the weekly clean. The proliferation of the handheld vacuum – smaller, powerful, portable and capable of cleaning everywhere – without it needing to be tethered to a wall encouraged a whole new focus on cleaning, and a whole slew of new devices meant to keep your apartment spick and span.
The main vacuum is still kept in the storeroom, but most homes now have a cordless one for everyday use in the living room, and an even smaller one for the study room table or car. Now, American tech brand Shark, of SharkNinja fame, has introduced the Shark EvoPower Boost+, their latest cordless vacuum that packs in the features and then some for extended home use.
The handheld looks and feels like a regular piston handheld, except this isn’t trying to be the Shark PowerClean 360, the brand’s other higher-end model in its latest line-up. Available for S$100 less at S$749, the EvoPower Boost+ comes in four distinct parts – the primary vacuum wrapped in a slick tube-like chassis that looks like a weapon out of Star Trek. You connect it to a Wand, which extends the vacuum so that it almost touches the floor, and then you link it to the last piece – the floor nozzle that houses the brush head.
At 1.7kg, it’s considerably lighter than the 2.2kg of the PowerClean 360 because it’s more compact. What sets these two Shark models apart from other cordless vacuums is their fourth component – the docking station or Auto-Empty Dock (AED) system. Like any other cordless vacuum, the Boost+ contains a bagless chamber that houses all the dirt it has collected, and you can place it over a bin, and empty it. Here, you can also put the EvoPower Boost+ on the AED dock and it automatically empties the dust chamber from the primary vacuum into the AED – so there’s no need to empty it in a bin.
The suction of the AED is strong enough to extract all manners of debris from the dust chamber on primary vacuum. If you happen to vacuum up some food bits and don’t want it sitting in the chamber or in the AED when docked, you can easily place the dust chamber of the AED itself over the bin and release the latch that opens up the chamber, allowing for gravity to let everything fall directly into the bin. With the AED, you don’t have to stick your finger into the dust chamber to pull on any strands of hair that might be stuck inside either.
That also applies to the brush head, which tends to get strands of hair rolled up, making it a pain to clean. This is due to the redesign of the brush head with Kevlar bristles that prevents the usual wrap and roll that traps long strands of hair. We cleaned up long hair of various lengths and quantity, and the vacuum does quick work of the hair that comes from the four women living in the household, and so far, nothing got caught in the brush head, or in the dirt chamber while emptying it.
But where the unit truly shines is with the unit’s ability to clean when pulled in reverse. Any home cleaner worth their salt would know, either instinctively or through the understanding of the limits of technology, that modern vacuums only clean when it is pushed forward. That’s right – a pull backwards does nothing, since the brushhead has been designed to channel dirt through the top.
So you do one of two things, by dragging the vacuum backwards and then pushing it forward again on the same spot to clean any missed portions. Or you lift the unit up and towards you, and place it on the ground and push it forward again.
The ability to clean when pulling backwards all boils down to the redesigned brush head itself that Shark seems to have over-engineered, and it’s all in one. There’s no need to swap brush heads for a specific task unlike with most other brands that provide so many different heads that almost no one ever swaps out. Here, it’s due to the new rubber chamber that aids in the unit’s cleaning when it’s pulled in reverse. The plastic piece funnels dirt front and back so you can now clean and continue cleaning with both front and back motions, which simplifies cleaning by turning each motion into an act that actually serves a purpose.
It’s not even something you’ll notice with each stroke that cleans, and we even laid down a trail of dust just to see if it works, and you can imagine our surprise when we pulled back on the device, and saw it just draw up the dirt from the ground like it was nothing.
Supporting all of this are also the built-in sensors that help you clear up and navigate around your home. Most local homes have air conditioning and use fans, either stand or ceiling, and what this does is inevitably repel dust to the edges of the room. When you place the brush nozzle of any vacuum by the wall or edge of a cupboard, you expect it to do the work but what happens is that you know it can’t clean as efficiently, so you press a button to increase the suction power. Here, the EvoPower Boost+ comes with Shark’s Edge Sensor on the nozzle that automatically detects you’re vacuuming by the wall, and increases suction dynamically.
You don’t have to do anything, but by hearing the increase roar of the motor, you know the work is being performed. A second part of the sensor is also with the nozzle where it’s able to detect the type of floor you’re cleaning, as well as recognise the amount of dirt being sucked up.
Hardwood, marble and any solid floor surface is simple to clean – you move the vacuum along and the work is done, but once you clean over a mat or in a room with a huge carpet, that’s where the challenge begins. Carpets are harder to clean as dirt gets trapped between the fibers, but instead of making manual adjustments to increase suction, the Boost+ is able to detect that you’re moving from one floor type to another, and increase suction accordingly if it detects a carpet.
It’s the same if you clean say, under your couch or bed for the first time and there’s a collection of dust and dirt there – the unit will initiate a suction increase and you can see the light on the unit go from green to red, which is normal suction to increase suction, before it goes to orange, which indicates that the unit is still detecting additional dirt that requires a suction boost, and finally, returning to green, which means all is clear.
Basically, what the combination of sensors, brush head and ease of use here means is that cleaning your home has never been easier or more efficient. One additional benefit, which my wife appreciates, is the multiflex feature that allows the Wand to fold, like a bending straw. The issue with a straight wand is that it lack flexibility when cleaning under couches or other furniture, and you tend to have to extend your hand holding the vacuum all the way until it almost touches the floor, for the vacuum to slide under furniture.
Because of the multiflex, you simply unlock the hinge and allow for the almost 90-degree bend to guide the brush head under shoe racks and sofas, enabling it to suck up dirt without similarly bending your body to be near the ground. And because the main unit can be detached from the wand and has its own nozzle, you can quickly remove it to clear harder to reach places, such as tight areas, corners of desks or even just bring it to the car, to clean up the mats and other areas that trap dirt from shoes or groceries.
Having tried both the EvoPower Boost+ and PowerClean 360, it seems a no-brainer to buy the top-of-the-line machine for S$100 more, but for those living in apartments, the EvoPower Boost+ offers all that the PowerClean 360 has, in a slightly cheaper and better form factor.
GEEK REVIEW SCORE
Summary
As more vacuum brands try to lure in new homeowners, some will explore new features and if something as simple as reverse cleaning sounds like something you never thought would be lacking, maybe it’s time to see what other players in the market are offering.
Overall
9/10
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Aesthetics - 9/10
9/10
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Build Quality - 9/10
9/10
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Performance - 9/10
9/10
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Value - 9/10
9/10
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Geek Satisfaction - 9/10
9/10
Hsals needs more space in his house, and more money in his bank account to pay for all the toys, collectibles and other geek related items that companies are churning out. Free-time? Girlfriend? Who’s got time for those?
Kevin Low
Si Jia
